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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29738313">of queens and pawns</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/atamascolily/pseuds/atamascolily'>atamascolily</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Chess Metaphors, Gen, Introspection, Kyubey is Awful</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:02:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,432</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29738313</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/atamascolily/pseuds/atamascolily</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There's no lengths that Kyubey won't go to ensnare Madoka. Everything else is an acceptable sacrifice.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>of queens and pawns</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Madoka Kaname's potential is vast, capable of generating power beyond anything the Incubators have encountered in several thousand years of dealings with humanity. Madoka <em>wants</em> to contract, deep down in the depths of her soul. And she will; Kyubey is sure of it. All she needs is the opportunity. All she needs is the excuse.</p><p>Kyubey will ensure she has it.</p><p>He always does. The Incubator plots his strategy with cold, calculating logic, watching from the shadows as he engineers the perfect moment. That's how he snagged Mami Tomoe--the pride of Mitakihara, one of his greatest successes to date, harvesting so many of her fallen comrades without falling into despair herself.</p><p>Witches are always causing car accidents, after all. Wasn't it a shame that a witch snagged the Tomoe family vehicle on its rampage across the highway out of the city that night, killing all but one of its passengers?</p><p>(Mami's never made the connection, not that it matters if she does. Mami trusts Kyubey completely. He's her friend, after all, the one who saved her life when she lay dying among the wreckage. The idea that he might be moved by more than pure generosity has never occurred to her. The same conscientiousness that allows her to excel as a magical girl also makes her shockingly easy to manipulate.)</p><p>With Mami, Kyubey waited until she was weak and vulnerable, leaving her with only one rational choice to make. And Mami, being a rational enough creature in her own way, did not disappoint him. Despite being afflicted with the same emotional disorders as any other human, she rarely deviates from previously established patterns. There are few surprises with her.  Kyubey appreciates such hard work and predictability in equal measure. </p><p>But back to the matter of Madoka Kaname, who has the potential to be far more powerful than Mami. Thus far, Kyubey has maneuvered the two of them into meeting; Madoka is intrigued but has not yet taken the bait. Time to up the stakes and apply a little more pressure to encourage her to accept the offer.</p><p>Chess is a human invention, but one of the few the Incubators have ever cared for. Chess masters know what most humans to do not: in order to win, the needs of the individual must be subsumed to the greater good. Ruthlessness and efficiency are paramount; emotions only get in the way. Humans might have come up with chess on their own, but it's the Incubators who have transformed it into an art that humans will never understand or appreciation.</p><p>In chess, the least powerful piece--a pawn--can become a queen if it crosses the full length of the board. The seemingly weak and powerless can transcend her origins and become the strongest of all. With a simple wish, an ordinary girl can become a magical one, holding the fate of millions in her hands. But just as a queen is still a piece on the board, to be controlled and directed by the player, so too are the magical girls moved at will by the Incubators.</p><p>Humans believe in free will and controlling their own fate, failing to understand that both concepts are illusory and have no inherent existence outside their own stories. Kyubey has explained this important fact to magical girls candidates over and over again and none of them ever really get it. They <em>say</em> they do--and then reveal their shallowness of their understanding by making a fuss when Kyubey speaks plainly. Now he avoids the subject entirely unless pressed. He won't lie, but he won't stir up unnecessary trouble, either.</p><p>Human beings, Kyubey has learned, cannot bear unfiltered reality. They depend up on lies, yet grow furious when he points out those falsehoods. Worse yet, they accuse <em>him</em> of being the deceiver in the first place! For practical purposes, however, it's best to let human beings keep their illusions for as long as possible. Once they contract, their fate is sealed, and it hardly matters if they kick up a fuss. </p><p>Kyubey thoroughly considers his options with Madoka Kaname  before choosing his next move. Sayaka Miki is Madoka's best friend--headstrong, bold, and barely worth the trouble of contracting on her own. If Sayaka contracts, the odds of Madoka contracting jump to 89%. That alone is enough to pique Kyubey's interest in her. As a bonus, Sayaka rarely considers the consequences of her actions and is infatuated with a boy in the hospital--a volatile combination even without magic. She may well contract on her own for the boy's sake, but in the meantime, Kyubey sees no harm in providing additional incentives.</p><p>Hospitals are full of suffering, desperate people--and therefore the appearance of a witch there will not be suspicious. As there are no witches conveniently nearby to lure over, Kyubey will have to manufacture one on site.</p><p>For some time now, Kyubey has been watching Nagisa Momoe as she sits beside the bedside of her dying mother. She is young and timid and credulous enough to his offer with little hesitation, and a deal is struck. Of course, she chooses poorly, wishing for a cake to enjoy with her mother when she could have saved her mother's life. Soon enough, she realizes her mistake, and now there is a Grief Seed fully formed and waiting to hatch, right where Madoka and Sayaka will find it.</p><p>The best part of this plan? No matter what happens next, the Incubators win. It's easy when the players don't even realize the stakes they're playing for, when every choice is an illusion, all leading to the same unavoidable end.</p><p>Of course, there is the small matter of Homura Akemi, the one unknown variable in the equation. Kyubey does not understand her purpose or what she wants, but it doesn't matter. Even if she interferes again to shield Madoka, she cannot go against destiny. And vast karmic weight--the strings of fate wrapped so densely around her--pushes Madoka towards the inevitable.</p><p>It's all so easy, it's almost like this has happened before--though clearly, that is absurd.</p><p>***</p><p>The trap springs perfectly, but neither Madoka nor Sayaka contract as a result. Just as Nagisa Momoe's witch attacks them, Homura Akemi intervenes just in time to save them--truly unfortunate. </p><p>Mami's death is unexpected, though obvious in retrospect. It's just as well--she served her purpose in guiding Madoka this far and now Kyubey has no further use for her. Her life energy is subsumed into Nagisa Momoe's Grief Seed, which in turn has gone to Homura Akemi to absorb her own negative emotions. Akemi will either hand off the Grief Seed to Kyubey in time or leave it to  respawn and gather more victims, more power, more energy and add to his quota. Either way, it will come to him in time.</p><p>Undeterred by his failure, Kyubey resolves to try another gambit. Madoka is put off by Mami's death, but not for long. There will always be more witches to rise up and threaten the people she loves. Hitomi Shizuki, for instance, is an easy target, one who lacks a protector like Homura Akemi to watch over her. She will be easy prey for a witch, and Madoka will be unable to stand helplessly by when she has the power to save her friend.</p><p>One by one, Kyubey will tear away Madoka's fragile support network to get what he wants: first Mami, then Sayaka, and then--if necessary--Homura Akemi. Other magical girls like Kyoko Sakura, will step in to claim Mami's territory and lacking Mami's scruples. They won't hesitate to fight and kill each other, all of which will push Madoka closer to the edge. And, of course, there's Walpurgisnacht, the compendium of witches, and the crown jewel in Kyubey's collection, poised to destroy Mitakihara unless Madoka intervenes.</p><p>With so many lives at stake--including her own-- Madoka will have no rational choice but to contract, just as Mami did. It's the only logical thing for her to do. Humans beings always claim to be rational creatures and even the most emotional among them is capable of rationality under the right circumstances.</p><p>It <em>is</em> for the greater good of the universe, after all. Entropy's not going to reverse itself without a little help. The pawn will become a queen, whether she realizes or not she is still a pawn in a larger game she cannot begin to understand.</p><p>It's only a matter of time before Madoka succumbs to the inevitable.</p><p>One way or another, Kyubey will make sure of it.</p>
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